How to: Use Blockbench to create your first model
If you don’t feel like reading, or you are a visual learner, we’ve created the above walkthrough video for you. If you want a step-by-step guide with more detail, keep on reading!
What you need to get started:
- Download Blockbench
- Something you want to model! For our example, we will be making a gramophone.
What is Blockbench?
Blockbench is a 3D modeling program that allows you to create models only using cubes. You can also export directly to Minecraft. This makes Blockbench perfect for making custom models for Minecraft, but this does mean it has limited uses outside of making models for Minecraft.
Step 1: Getting a reference
When you want to first start a model, it’s best to have some sort of reference image to work from. Whether the image is from Minecraft itself or real life is up to you – for more complex models though, it’s best to use a reference photo from real life! For our example, we will be making a gramophone from one of our upcoming maps.
Step 2: Think about the size
The first thing to do before starting the model is to take into account the size of the model. Thinking about how big the model should be and make sure it fits into the map that you’re making. To do this, visualize it in Blockbench by placing a single block around the maximum size of the model you intend to make.
Step 3: Break down the shapes of your model
For our gramophone, we can split it into two significant parts:
- The box that houses the turning mechanism
- The horn/speaker of the turntable
Making the horn separate from the box will allow for better maneuverability around the model. It will make it so attaching it to the base will be easier later on when positioning the two sections. The box is a simple 3-block shape that forms the bottom, center, and top.
Step 4: Making the horn (detailed segments)
The horn is more complicated. We decided that there are 2 possible ways we could model this. The first is to make the horn square, it would fit the classic Minecraft aesthetic, but it can look less detailed. We also opted to try a more curved shape, while this has less of a Minecraft aesthetic, it can look better in some scenarios.
Editors Note: While adding curves can make the model look better, this can bring some difficulties with animation later and is technically harder, if you aren’t comfortable with Blockbench, we recommend sticking with a more squared approach, and then as you improve, start experimenting and perfecting the style you like!
We opted to complete the curved horn in this example. In the preview above, you will see that this isn’t fully complete. You can finalize this by duplicating the parts of the rounded horn and rotating them 45% about the center of the horn. You are then able to create more of a complete look for the horn. While the back of the horn is slightly jagged, the model itself, when placed, should be up against a wall, so players won’t be able to see the back of the horn. It is walking the line between making a model detailed enough so that players know what it is while not becoming over-detailed.
Step 5: Bringing the model together
We then want to bring the horn and the base together, but we will need to add some more detail to join the two pieces. The record on the player can be done by taking eight copies of the same block shape and rotating them to make a circle. We then moved the horn on top of the box. Then we added extra detail, connecting the horn to the base, along with the needle for the record.
Step 6: Texturing the model
You can edit the texture directly within Blockbench itself, or other programs such as paint.net or Photoshop. For doing more detailed work, we recommend working in Blockbench. This is due to the live preview, and the fact that models can have confusing texture layouts.
Step 7: Final details
Adding subtle texture can be challenging, but is essential! When adding texture to the gramophone horn, we added appropriate shading, whilst making sure it didn’t look like a wilted flower. As for the gramophone box, we added subtle wood grain lines to the base texture, to give it more depth. The texturing of our gramophone may change, but be sure to look out for this gramophone in one of our upcoming releases!
Adding Animation
Adding animation is best done in Blockbench (as it’s the easiest place to do it!), but we will be covering how to animate models in a later tutorial. If you want to learn how to do that, sign up to our newsletter and join our discord! You can see a preview of the animated model for this tutorial below!
This post is part of our how to in Minecraft series of posts. Let us know what you want to learn about next in the comments!
How to host your own game of Cops and Robbers
One of the most common questions we receive is how can I host a game of Cops and Robbers. Below we have listed a few options you can choose to use and an overview of our experience with them.
Please note: Whilst we actively talk to the staff at both StickyPiston Hosting and Minehut, we are not affiliated with any hosting provider. All testing of services has been done anonymously and without warning to any hosting provider to avoid any potential bias results. We have also included feedback based on what our community (you!) have said about these hosts during support calls or messages.
1) StickyPiston Hosting
Link: https://trial.stickypiston.co/podcrash
Price: Free (up to 2hrs)
Rating: Good
Pros
- StickyPiston is the only hosting provider that offer a one-click install of our maps, and you don’t need to download, config or do anything really! All you have to do is click and play and you will be given the IP to a server and the ability to start playing straight away.
- It offers a generous amount of ram for each server and has been tested by the team at StickyPiston to ensure that the map runs smoothly
Cons
- Each server only lasts for 2 hours, after those 2 hours your server will close and you will need to make a new one. This is free and you can do this as much as you like though.
2) Aternos
Link: https://aternos.org/
Price: Free
Rating: Ok
Pros
- Aternos provide a good free Minecraft server and is reliable.
- Players of Cop and Robbers have found that typically Cops and Robbers maps do work on Aternos servers.
Cons
- The Aternos panel can be confusing for new players
- There is a wait queue to start a server, so it can take a few minutes to get started.
- We have attempted to reach out to the Aternos team before to help players better experience our maps on their servers, but have not had any response.
3) Minehut
Link: https://minehut.com/
Price: Free
Rating: Bad
Pros
- Minehut provides a good free Minecraft server, with options to upgrade your server built directly into their user panel.
- Minehut have a community share feature that allows you to promote your server to the Minehut community of around 250,000 players, meaning that you can grow a server more easily than other hosts.
Cons
- In the past, we have seen reports that our Cops and Robbers maps do not work on Minehut servers. We have spoken to Minehut staff in the past although they are yet to provide a solution as to how you can run a map of ours successfully.
What if I want to host my own?
Well, why didn’t you say? If you’ve got another provider in mind, or are already running an existing server, we’ve got a great guide for you on hosting your own version of Cops and Robbers: How to install a Java Minecraft map on PC and Server
Let’s wrap it up
That’s all from us, if you’re looking to play with a group of friends then why not Join our Discord, not only do you get to meet new people to play Cops and Robbers with, but you also get to be one of the first players to hear about new updates, play new maps and join exclusive giveaways! If you have any feedback or questions based on this article feel free to contact us via email at [email protected] or tweet us @podcrash.
How to escape from Cops and Robbers 5 Arctic
Introduction
After the popularity of our recent release of Cops and Robbers 5, we thought it’d be a great time to release some information on the different escape routes you can take to free yourself from the prison. So if you’re having a little trouble finding your way out, or looking for a new way to impress your friends, this is certainly the guide for you! If you’re not the reading-type we’ve created the below video of the tutorial’s content:
This tutorial contains spoilers for the map, and we highly recommend that you have a good explore first before reading further, it’s all part of the fun so make sure you give it a try before reading any further!
So how many escape routes are there?
There are two main escape routes, and a small number of other (more secret) side escapes. How many have you found before reading this tutorial? If you’re looking for a few small tips and not a full-on guide then make sure you’re considering the following:
- Have you tried exploring the vent system on both the first and second floor of the map?
- Are there any buttons around the prison that look… press-able?
- Pay attention to any on-screen messages you get, do any doors set off alarms?
- Look for high-security areas that you may not be able to access as a prisoner… how do you suppose you can find your way into these areas?
No luck? Keep on reading, and we’ll walk through you the escape process, step-by-step.
The first step – Making your way to the third floor
To get you started, all of the main escape routes start from the third floor. So we’re going to have to make our way their first.
Method 1 – Taking the stairs
1. On the second floor, explore around until you’re able to locate a room with the following lever on the wall if you’re unsure where it is look out for a room with a table, you can’t miss it:
2. This lever will retract a piston in the stairwell, clearing the debris that is normally there. If you’re already found these stairs, perfect, if not follow the next step.
3. The above staircase can be found in the room to the one you just pressed the lever in! Have a look around! Once inside, you’ll need to navigate around a small maze, but I’m sure that won’t be any trouble.
Take the staircase once you get to it, and climb to the very top. This should lead you out on the third floor where the next part of your escape will begin. Once you’re there, skip the method below (or try it as an alternative), and get reading the “Once you’re on the third floor'” section for your next escape steps!
Method 2 – The library route
1. As the title suggests, you’re going to want to make your way to the library first. If you’re not sure which room that is… it’s the one with the books. Once you’re there climb your way up to the third floor via the central staircase. This is going to be the starting point for your escape.
2. Once there, search around until you find two pillars with out-of-place stone buttons. This make take a bit of searching!
3. Press one of the many buttons on both pillars (making sure you don’t take too long before pressing the first button). This should open up a secret door in the bookshelves. You’re going to want to make your way through this door fast, as it will close behind you!
Once through this door, walk along the corridor and you’ll have made your way to the third floor. Once your there, follow the steps in the next section to continue your escape!
Once you’re on the third floor
You’ve made it this far, and can almost taste freedom I’m sure, but there’s still a few more steps to do until you’re out!
Regardless of the way you’ve taken to get to this stage, you should be in a long, narrow hallway which marks the start of the third floor. Walk along this hallway until you get to your first right (or left) turn depending on the route you took here, and follow the steps below:
1. Walk down the new corridor that you’re now on, and take the first vent that you come to on your left (there should also be a vent on the right, but don’t take that one). This vent should lead you directly to the security room.
2. Once you’ve made your way to the security room, you’re going to want to press the “Pulsate Security Fence” button on the wall.
3. After pressing this button you’re only going to have a few seconds to make your way out of the door to the now-opened security fence, so go fast!
4. Once through the fence, walk through the iron door and across the connecting bridge to the central tower.
Let’s get out of here ! – Now for the actual escaping part
From here you’ll have two different routes you can take to exit the prison. The first, standard route, is suggested to prisoners wanting to go at it alone. For the second, you’re going to need a partner, so make sure you invite you friends along on your little escaping-trip if you plan on taking this one!
Note: Below this point are major spoilers to core gameplay within the map. Read further at your own risk!
Route one – A solo story
1. Make your way directly through the wardens tower to the other side, where you’ll find a jumping puzzle. Watch your step here, as falling could spell an… early escape…
2. Traverse across the rooftop until you can find a vent in the ceiling. Press the button nearby, and aim for the water below.
3. Once you land, you’ve made your way into the high-security area! So, congratulations… I guess? We recommend giving this area an explore, as there are lots of different hiding places and secrets, but if you’re short on time or have someone chasing you, have a quick look around for this corridor:
4. Keep walking along here, and take the first and only turn on your right, then then your first room on the left. This should be easy to spot, as it’s labelled “General Storage”. Once inside, locate and complete the small parkour challenge.
Congratulations! You’ve now made it to the front door of the prison, and escape should be easy from here. Search around outside for any methods of transportation that you think could whisk you away. But if you’re out of steam from all of your escaping and want a little guidance, skip the next escape and straight to the “Once you’re out the front door” section.
Route two- Bring a friend
As implied by the title, if you don’t have a friend with you, this route will not be possible! Not to worry though, now you know how to get to this point, you can give them a step by step guide to come and meet up with you.
1. When looking towards the first escape, take the bridge on your right across to a set of cells.
2. Go through the iron door and take a left towards the overgrown cell. This should be easy to spot, as it’s the only one with leaves in it!
3. Enter the cell and clamber over the leaves until you reach an opening right at the back! This should definitely be hidden enough make sure you’re not spotted making your grand escape.
4. Parkour across the leaves puzzle around the size of your building, accompanied by your friend on to and over the walkway. Jump down in to the courtyard and follow the building around outside until you get to the prison’s maintenance entrance.
5. This is the point you’ll need a friend to help you out, requires two people to open. Position your friend over one of the pressure plates, and yourself over the other. Presto! The door should open, and you should have access to the maintenance entrance.
6. Once through the entrance you should be in a small dark hallway. Take the first left you get to and go straight ahead towards the front-desk!
Congratulations! You’ve now made it to the front door of the prison, and escape should be easy from here. Search around outside for any methods of transportation that you think could whisk you away. If you’re still a little unsure, have a look at the next section for your final piece of advice.
Once you’re out the front door
1. Walk out of the door and follow the path around the side of the building towards the train.
2. Enter in to the train hangar, and make your way to the last (red) train carriage, and enter. You’ve now officially escaped!
Let’s wrap it up
That you so much for reading this post, and more importantly for playing Cops and Robbers. We hope you had as much fun playing it as we did making it! If you have any further questions relating to anything Podcrash, or have noticed anything we’ve missed out in this blog, give us an email at [email protected], or tweet us @podcrash. If you’re looking for people to play the map with, feel free to join our Discord community, there’s always someone’s always up for playing, and it’s a great place to meet new friends and interact with our team.
For now, see you guys soon, and happy playing!
Ooops, thank you for scrolling 🙂
Since you’ve scrolled down this far, here’s a little secret for you. If you locate two acacia buttons hidden around the map, your escape will be much easier! To give you a reward for reading to the end of this post we’ll give you a few hints on the location of these buttons:
To locate the first button…
1 . Make your way to the prisoner pool, and locate the vent system nearby.
2 . The first acacia button is position in one of the corners of the boxing ring.
To locate the second button…
1 . Explore the map to find the kitchen area. You may have to look at the vent system along the ground floor corridors.
2 . Once in the kitchen, find you way to the back room, and use the parkour to locate the secret vents area.
3. At the end of the vents you’ll find the second button. Once pressed it will open the “Special access door”.
We’ll leave finding this door up to you… best of luck, and happy escaping!
COVID-19 and our community response
Hey!
This is a rather different post than the sorts of things we do on this blog. A lot of times we talk about new games, new things coming to Minecraft. We never thought we would actually do a serious blog post… However, we cannot deny that over the past few months of building this we have been very lucky to pull some decent viewership on our blog, reaching 50,000-100,000+ people an article in some cases, and so staying silent didn’t feel right.
Podcrash also operates a lot of gaming communities, and as countries prepare for more and more isolation and containment we want to do our best to provide a safe space for you and friends to play games and communicate without putting yourself or others around you at risk. We have therefore started upgrading our services, and opening new opportunities for you to continue playing.
Online Servers
Podcrash gamemodes are still relatively popular, we see around 1000 downloads a day on old and new maps for Java edition Minecraft. We know that as more and more people become isolated it will become harder to spend time with friends and family. We are opening our game servers to everyone, and encourage you to hop online to our free java server to play a rotation of Cops and Robbers maps, if you want to change it for another map, jump in our discord and one of our team will come help swap it over. You can get the server IP from our discord
If you don’t want to play on our servers, or don’t fancy playing Cops and Robbers, we recommend checking out StickyPiston Hosting’s trial service that offers a collection of some of the best maps new and old (including ours) you can view all available maps here
Podcrash+
We are aware that both Mineplex and Hypixel are preparing for larger than normal traffic surges throughout the coming days and weeks, and we are aware that a lot of players enjoy using Podcrash+ to add to their game experience on those servers. Podcrash+ is a free mod and our servers that authenticate the user and help provide a lot of the functionality you use and enjoy on the mod is provided completely for free by us. We are unfortunately preparing for the worse and we expect that during this period our servers will face some severe performance issues at peak times.
In an attempt to help this, we are building emergency protocols into our workflow, as of today we are increasing the player limit our server can handle at any one point, although this will come at the cost of a loss of some features and service for our Discord bot, so if you notice a player struggling with a question, please help our teams and help them by finding the answer. If you aren’t sure then direct them to staff.
Podcrash Status will also be monitoring all services at a 1-minute interval and if it notices any issues our development teams will be notified to step in and attempt to mitigate the issues before it becomes severe. Alongside this we are building more internal monitoring tools and looking into how we can optimize our server performance with short term fixes before the full relaunch later this year.
If you need help, think there are issues or want to keep updated with Podcrash+ make sure to join their discord
What can I do to help?
The truth is, we are a community of young people, and, barring any underlying health issues, we are classed as one of the lowest at-risk groups, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be careful, listen to your local authorities advice and make sensible decisions and choices with that information. As gamers, there are a bunch of causes you can join in on at no cost to you, for example, Folding@Home is an international network that you can link your gaming PC up to, and help provide some processing power to a global network available to organisations currently trying to find answers to the COVID-19 virus. GPU’s are particularly good at doing this, who said gaming never helped! If you want to read more about how Folding@Home works, and what they are doing, you can find it on Reddit and if you want to get started straight away then you can download Folding@Home from their website
From everyone at Podcrash, we wish you and your families the best, and we hope you stay safe in these trying times.
How Minecraft became a platform for free thought
What is Minecraft?
Since its inception, Minecraft has been a game tailored around the idea that the imagination is the limit and that nothing is too big or small to achieve. When Minecraft’s official trailer first launched on December 6th 2011, the words rang out to millions of players. Think of a world, where the only limit is your imagination. Most notably Minecraft is used as a place for games like Cops and Robbers to exist, but every so often something changes that.
So what’s happened?
Well, Reporters without Borders and our friends over at Blockworks Uk came together to take that to a whole new level. On the 12th March, the world’s day against cyber censorship, they released a collaboration that takes the work of censored journalists and authors around the world and uploads it in one place for everyone to view, read and share.
Minecraft is one of the few games with global representation, even in oppressed or authoritarian countries. The creation of The Uncensored Library becomes more than just a Minecraft build, but a genuine library. Containing censored news articles from five of the most censored countries in the world, where freedom of the press is non-existent, and articles that go against the governments are blocked, and the journalists responsible are exiled, arrested, tortured or worse.
Each country has its own room in the library. Each comes dressed up with sculptures and statuary that speak to each country’s specific censorship campaigns. Mexico’s wing wraps rows of books around a small cemetery at its center. Gravestones depict independent journalists murdered for covering sensitive political stories or investigating organized crime rings, like drug cartels. Saudi Arabia doesn’t allow independent journalism, so its wing features a singular cage at the center, symbolizing the journalists arrested and likely tortured for government criticism. All of this done within Minecraft
It’s not clear if Reporters without Borders plan to keep the library updated. We can say though that it is definitely worth checking out and spending a bit of time in.
How can I join?
You can join by loading Minecraft: Java Edition version 1.14.4 and connecting to the IP visit.uncensoredlibrary.com
Discord Bots – How we use them to help protect you
Recently there have been a lot of questions regarding what our Discord bot’s can and cannot do. In this post, we want to address exactly what the PDCL bot and what the new bot “Praetorian” will be able to do, what permissions it has, what permissions it doesn’t have and most importantly who in Podcrash has access to them!
What’s the difference between the PDCL Discord Bot and the Praetorian Discord Bot
The PDCL discord bot has been discontinued since the PDCL disbanded in December 2019. We have maintained the basic functionality of this bot whilst Praetorian has been in development but once it goes live the PDCL bot will be fully discontinued and turned offline. We made this decision as the PDCL bot relies on a lot of old code, some of which is outdated and some just now completely redundant. We decided that to make a better bot, one that integrates with the new server, and has access to player statistics, news and more.
What Permissions does the PDCL Discord Bot have
As of right now, the PDCL discord bot has basic chat moderation features, that can delete inappropriate messages, warn users, mute users per discord of globally and logs punishment history for the BCL, CCL and MSCL discords. There is a rumour going around that the bot can also spy on your discord and logs all messages you send in private team discords. This is not the case, the PDCL discord bot has no spyware built-in.
Where this idea has a grain of truth is that Discord themselves allow any bot to read messages from channels through their API, and you can find more about that here
From the PDCL Bot a very limited amount of people can run an “eval” command that gives full access to the Discord API and therefore it is theoretically possible for only a handful of developers to access these messages, however, from an audit of the bot’s logs this has never been done.
What is Praetorian
Praetorian is the name given to the new server’s discord bot. It is still under development and is not on any production servers as of yet. Praetorian is primarily a moderation discord bot with integration into our server network so you will be able to manage your team roster, see in-game stats such as how many kills you have in a certain game, how many hours played etc.
The current feature list is:
1. In-game Stats for Players and Teams
2. Chat Moderation, by default Podcrash official servers, will have strict moderation, currently, all Partnered servers are required to have minimum moderation, which means it will filter hate speech (Racist Slurs, Homophobic & Transphobic comments and other similar slurs and insults). The leagues can individually choose to filter more if they wish but are not required to.
3. Chat Logs for Official and Partnered Servers – All official and partnered servers will have chat moderation logs, so if a message is edited or deleted, we can see it in history. This by default is disabled on Public servers that wish to invite the discord bot.
4. Voice Channel Logs – On Official servers (not partnered servers) voice calls will be recorded by the discord bot to allow moderators to make sure that any abuse can be checked and monitored, these recordings are securely stored for 7 days and only opened in the case where a report is made. If no reports are made then they are deleted. These will also be used for official tournaments to make sure that only the correct players are participating.
5. Music – All servers will be able to use this as a Music bot. Simple, choose a song from Youtube and it will play it in the call.
6. Levels & Rewards – The discord bot will level players up the more they interact. XP gain will be limited to Official servers & partnered servers.
7. In-Game Verification – Players will be asked to link their Minecraft account with their discord account on Official servers, and that information will be accessible to Partnered servers, but you will not need to have a verified account to interact on them. If you have an unverified account on an official server, then you will not be able to type in any channels or join any voice calls.
What controls do you have over Praetorian
Praetorian is being built with a full control panel at the center, so you can invite it to your own server, and manage what’s active, what’s inactive and know exactly what is happening on your instance of Praetorian. If you wish to have no automatic chat moderation, you don’t have to, if you want to enable music you can, if you want to allow players to view their own in-game stats in your server, it’s all up to you, and enabled or disabled by you. We cannot override that and we don’t access your server without you explicitly knowing about it. An example of a case where we would access your server is if there were a bug report, and we need to see logs to see what went wrong, we would pull discord bot logs for your server to see exactly what went wrong. We would not access your data to validate a report of abuse.
Who has access to the Discord bot (except the server owner)
We intend to keep a public record of who has access to the Discord Bot behind the scenes, and this will compromise of only a few senior developers for Podcrash who have all signed and agreed to non-disclosure agreements that mean even if they see a reportable offence, if they aren’t there to look specifically for that, they are required to not disclose it to any partners or moderators unless it falls under a serious threat to life.
Where to go for news about the Praetorian or the new server?
Recently we noticed that a lot of incorrect news and rumours have been popping up about the server, as such we have opened a section of our blog, which you can find here, that will provide any updates regarding Invicta or services related to Invicta (such as the Praetorian Discord Bot!)
How to install a Java Minecraft map on PC and Server
The new Cops and Robbers revamp has just been released on Java, and you’re raring to go, but how do you play the maps? Here are a few basic steps to get you going in no time!
A NOTE BEFORE YOU GET STARTED
This guide will mainly be focused on the most recent updates of Windows 10, macOS and Linux (Ubuntu). If you’re running older versions of any of these, give these steps a go, as there may be some overlap. If you’re still struggling, why not join our discord, where there will always be someone available to answer your questions?
Not here for Cops and Robbers? Not a problem! There’s plenty of content out there from both other creators and us. If you’re in a spooky mood, why not give our Halloween-themed The Wraithing Trials a go? We’d also recommend Terra Swoop Force from our friends at Noxcrew, as it’s an excellent map.
WHY’S MY FILE IN A WEIRD FORMAT (.ZIP OR .RAR)?
The first thing you may realise is that your file isn’t a Minecraft file… that may sound a little bit silly but stick with us.
Most Minecraft maps are wrapped up in another file (to make things a little bit harder on you!), which means that your Minecraft world isn’t ready to go as soon as it’s downloaded. To remove your file from its packaging, you’ll want to do the following:
- For Windows 10 users – You’re going to have to install a separate program. We’d recommend either 7-Zip or WinRAR. To install these, click on the links above, select the download that suits you, and follow the install instructions. If you’re unsure how to use these programs, we’d recommend these guides for 7-Zip and WinRAR.
- For macOS users – You’re in luck! There’s already a way for you to do these built-in. Right-click on your file and select “Open With > Archive Utility”. If this doesn’t work, your file may be a .rar, and in this case, you’re going to want to install a program like The Unarchiever.
- For Linux users – If you are a Linux user, you are probably experienced enough to do this. Still, if you aren’t sure, you need to install unzip and run the following command in your terminal, and your world will automatically be put in the correct folder. If you have changed your download folder or the location of your Minecraft folder, then you will want to make sure these are updated in the reference!
unzip ~/Downloads/mapname.zip -d ~/.minecraft/saves/mapname
Fun Fact!
The original Cops and Robbers map was released in April 2013. This means the map was released around 7 years ago. Feeling a bit old yet?
PLAYING THE MAP LOCALLY (FOR SINGLEPLAYER WORLDS)
Before we move any further, is your map in the correct format? If you’re not sure, look at the previous section titled “Why’s my file in a weird format”.
GETTING THE MAP IN-GAME – WINDOWS 10 USERS
- Open up your Minecraft Launcher as you would normally
- Navigate to “Installations” at the top, under the ‘Minecraft: Java Edition’ text
- On the following line down, click the “(+) New…” icon, and to the right, under “GAME DIRECTORY”, select “Browse”.
- Click on .minecraft > Saves. This is the location that you will need to save your world! (if you don’t see this, make sure you’ve created a Minecraft singleplayer world, and try again)
- Exit out of these menus, and find the location that you just found
- If you can’t find this location again, click on the Windows logo at the bottom left of your monitor and type: %appdata% into your search bar. Then go through the same steps: .minecraft > Saves
- Once you’re in the saves folder, drag and drop your new Minecraft world file, and you’re ready.
- Launch your game, and you’ll find the folder under “Singleplayer” (note that your world may have a different in-game name than its file name!)
GETTING THE MAP IN-GAME – MACOS USERS
- Press cmd + shift + g on your keyboard at the same time or open the Go menu and then Go to Folder
- Paste into the search bar ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft/saves to take you to your Minecraft files!
- Drag and drop your new Minecraft world file into this location, and you’re good to go!
- Launch your game, and you’ll find the folder under “Singleplayer” (note that your world may have a different in-game name than its file name!)
GETTING THE MAP IN-GAME – LINUX (UBUNTU) USERS
- Open your home folder from your taskbar.
- Navigate to View > Show Hidden Files while keeping this folder open (you should see lots of new files appear!)
- Click on .minecraft > saves (if you don’t see this, make sure you’ve created a Minecraft singleplayer world, and try again)
- Drag and drop your new Minecraft file into this location, and you’re good to go!
- Launch your game, and you’ll find the folder under “Singleplayer” (note that your world may have a different in-game name than its file name!)
Fun Fact!
When Minecraft was first in development it was known as “Cave Game” by Notch. This was later changed to the “Minecraft” that we all know and love, which we think was probably a good choice.
PLAYING THE MAP ON A SERVER (FOR MULTIPLAYER WORLDS)
The first thing to do is to double-check that your map is intended for multiplayer use! Some maps (especially adventure maps) aren’t designed to work in multiplayer, so ensure that the world you’re looking to download has a player count or mentions in the description that you can invite your friends.
In the case of Cops and Robbers, the map is entirely multiplayer, so feel free to invite as many friends as you like along!
BEFORE YOU GET STARTED
This guide assumes that you’re with a Minecraft server provider such as MCProHosting, StickyPiston or ApexHosting. If you don’t already have a server set up, we’d recommend choosing a plan and host that suits you. Feel free to use the three examples above as a place to start!
PART 1 – GETTING SET UP
To begin, you will want to install an FTP client (this is just a fancy way of viewing the files on your server). We’d recommend you use FileZilla for this, it is available on Windows 10, macOS and Linux. To install it, navigate to the download page above, and select the download that suits the platform you are on.
PART 2 – UPLOADING YOUR WORLD
Your service provider will have set you up with a Multicraft login to access and control your server. Make sure to check your emails for a link to this if you don’t know what we’re talking about!
- Once logged in, go to “Servers” along the top bar, and select the server you want to upload the world to
- Along the left-hand side, you’ll see “Files” click on click again on “FTP File Access”
- You should see your FTP Address, FTP Port and FTP Username listed here. If you don’t, this is likely an issue with the permissions you have been given on Multicraft, so take this up with your server provider or server owner.
- Open up your FileZilla client (from the above step)
- At the top, copy your FTP Address into “Host”, your FTP Username into “Username” and FTP Port into “Port” (default 21).
- Your screen will be split into two boxes. On the left-hand side is your PC files, and the right is your server files. If you can see folders such as “plugins”, “players” and “region”, you’re in the correct place!
- Drag and drop your folder from your PC files (on the left and side) or from your desktop or download the location of the map.
- Open your server.properties file (located in the base directory), find level-name = currentworldname, and change “currentworldname” to the name of your new world – save and exit.
Once the file is uploaded and properties updated, restart your server so that the changes take effect and load you’re good to go!
PART 3 – PLAYING THE MAP (SPECIAL CASES)
We recommend a vanilla server to play all of our multiplayer maps; however, if your server is running a modded Server JAR (i.e. Spigot) and has several worlds, you may want to do the following:
- Install the plugin Multiverse Core
- Run the command /mvimport worldname normal, and use /mvtp worldname to get to your new world.
Please note this can have unintended side effects with some maps, and we highly recommend you use a vanilla server.
LET’S WRAP UP
With all this information, you should be ready to get going on your new Minecraft map! Again, if you’re still running into issues, we’d love to help, and the best place for this would be on our discord. This is also a great place to meet up with people who are playing the new Cops and Robbers revamps (and an excellent way to recruit new inmates for your prison)!
As always, we’d love to hear from you if you have any feedback on these blog posts, Minecraft in general or our new Cops and Robbers content by emailing [email protected] or tweeting us @podcrash. Have a great week, and see you next time!
Nether Update! Minecraft’s dangerous new snapshot adventure
It’s been a while since Minecraft’s eerie nether dimension has received a full make-over, but the wait is finally over, and boy are we excited!
I’m sorry, what’s going on?
If you cast your mind back to Minecon Live 2019, Mojang treated us to several awesome announcements, not least of which was three brand new biomes: Soulsand Valley, Netherwart Forest Red and Netherwart Forest Blue, and several new mobs: Piglin Beast and Piglins, hinting heavily that we’d be seeing a bunch more content very soon!
Over the last month, these promises have definitely been fulfilled with the introduction of the 20W06A and today’s 20W07A snapshot releases, which has not only given us the ability to go an explore these biomes ourselves but has brought quite a few more features than any of us could of imagined (we’ll admit, we’ve given this topic extensive ‘in-game research’).
FUN FACT!
In Minecraft beta 1.6 test build 3, beds placed in the nether were made to explode! Maybe leave sleeping until you’ve returned to the overworld?
What do I need to know about the nether?
We know you don’t have all day to read through the snapshot notes, and the last person writing this fell asleep trying to do so, so we’ll give you our best summary of the two most recent updates:
Big takeaways
Nether Biomes
Biomes such as Crimson forest, Warped forest and Soulsand valley add new and interesting explorable areas to the Nether. These biomes won’t necessarily impact your gameplay all that much (don’t think dungeons, or temples), but will give you plenty to go and explore, and will certainly break up the repetitiveness that the old nether often faced.
Despite this, all three biomes contain some of the brand-new blocks scattered around the place, running into these will rely on your luck of the draw, although we understand that some of friends may call this ‘luck’. Speaking of blocks, let’s get on those.
New Nether Blocks
With new biomes come new blocks, and there’s plenty of em’. To get straight to the important point, Ancient debris is the most exciting of these and is a new rare ore found at the deepest depths of the nether. The ore drops ‘netherite scraps’ which once mined can then be used to make netherite ingots, and once we’ve got ingots… we can make tools (more on that a little later).
The newly added Crimson and Warped Nylium blocks grow on top of netherrack and are there to make it less boring. If you’ve got time to spare, using bonemeal on Netherrack will spread Nylium. We’ve also got Basalt, Weeping Vines, Soulfire lanterns, Shroomlight and Soulfire torches, although these seem to act in the same way to the quartz pillars of the world… they’re great for sprucing up your base, but not great at doing much else!
Nether Mobs
There are two new mobs, and they’re so important we’ve given them each their own sections:
- Piglins are the gold-loving zombie pigman we always wanted! If you’re looking for a fight, they spawn in groups of 1-3 and linger around the new crimson forest and nether wastes biomes. Although they attack on-sight if you’re looking for a peaceful mining trip for your new ancient debris ore, your best bet is to wear gold armour and they’ll leave you alone (unless you go on a looting spree).
- Hoglins may look cuddly but they’re actually quite aggressive when you get up close. Saying that, they finally bring the source of food we’ve all wanted in the Nether so no need to stack up on food before going on your adventure! Just like Piglins, Hoglins also have a weakness and run away from warped fungi in terror.
Items/Armour
Netherite. That’s all we need to say. This awesome new block allows you to craft pickaxes, swords, shovels hoes and a full set of armour and can be made by combining your everyday diamond armour with netherite ingots. As you would expect being a step up from diamond, netherite is better in every way (weapons do more damage, tools are faster, and armour is tougher).
FUN FACT!
Netherite armour also gives you knockback resistance so can give you a huge advantage in any combat situation.
Let’s wrap it up
We hope this post has given you something to think about, and more importantly, look forward to! We are really excited to get stuck into the Nether Update when it’s released in Java Edition 1.16. In the meantime, why not give this snapshot a go now and let us know what you think by emailing [email protected] or tweeting us @podcrash. You never know, maybe you can find some interesting that we’ve missed!
If you want to read Minecraft’s full patch notes, you can see them here.